Stephen Curry. #PROLOOKintheNBA
Undersized, underdeveloped, scrawny; all terms that seem surprising for the son of a 16-year NBA player. And yet, those are all terms that have described Stephen Curry for most of his career.
Curry has always been undersized; in middle and high school he could barely fill a jersey. Despite his size, the teen’s game was far from undersized. In his early years, Curry attended small Canadian school Queensway Christian College where he made an immediate impact on the boys’ basketball team. The team went from mediocre to winning most games by over 40 points because of Curry’s skill. Curry’s coach, James Lackey, was amazed. “He was doing stuff at age 12 that I’ve never seen before.”
Despite his incredible show of skill in middle school, Curry did not try out for the varsity team his freshman year in Charlotte. “I felt a little scared,” he said. “I was starting to regret it because I really felt like I was good enough to play at the next level but I didn’t really have the belief to put that into action when the time mattered.”
Curry would not make that mistake again. Playing varsity his sophomore year, he showed off incredible shooting range paired with mesmerizing handles that helped him to be a three-time North Carolina All-State Player while leading his small school, Charlotte Christian, to three division titles. Despite these incredible accomplishments, Curry had few Division I offers because of his 160-pound frame. He eventually decided to play for relatively unknown school Davidson where he became a basketball phenom.
During Curry’s freshman year, he led Davidson to a 29-5 record and Southern Conference championship. While his freshman season was great, it paled in comparison to his sophomore year. Curry again led the Wildcats to a Southern Conference championship and most importantly spurred a deep run in the NCAA tournament, helping them beat favorites Gonzaga, Georgetown, and Wisconsin to advance to the Elite Eight.
Following Curry’s junior year, another great season for the 6’3” guard, Curry entered the 2009 NBA Draft and was selected seventh overall by the Golden State Warriors. While his high school and college careers were special, his breathtaking NBA career has been the stuff of legend. During his 13 seasons, he has become a household name, with kids across the country trying to shoot like him. Among numerous other accomplishments, Curry is an eight-time NBA All-Star, two-time MVP, the first unanimous MVP in NBA history, a three-time NBA champion, and the first player in NBA history to hit 3,000 3-pointers.
It would be an understatement to say that Curry has forever changed the game of basketball and how it’s played. While Curry will go down as one of the greatest to ever pick up a basketball, and undoubtedly the best shooter ever, these accomplishments were not always clear. Just an undersized kid from Charlotte, Curry has gone on to prove everyone wrong.
#BuiltBetter #LiveYourGame #PROLOOK
